1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to vessels for steeping tea leaves in hot water and more particularly to a tea pot having an internal valve.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, tea leaves are put into a vessel and then hot water is added or vice versa. After a few minutes, a fragrant tea is made. However, a person may often carelessly drink the extracted tea leaves. It is found that the less the hot water, the more the extracted tea leaves being drunk by a person. Moreover, the flavor of tea infusion is consumed quickly.
A typical tea steeping device comprises a cup comprising a cone shape inclined bottom, a through hole in the bottom center, a flange around the periphery of the cup bottom, a plurality of symmetric vertical holes formed on the surface of the flange, and a plurality of paired and symmetric foot plates being extended from the flange; a strainer in the cup bottom; a disk having a ring with a diameter slightly less than the flange, the ring having a plurality of symmetric posts so as to insert into the respective holes of the flange so that the cup and the disk are capable of lifting or lowering a rod in the ring center, and holes through the foot plates on the disk adjacent the ring; a water stopper comprising a stop pad at the hole on the cup bottom, and a metal ball on the hole, wherein the stop pad facing the top of the ball has a slot so as to be spaced from and formed with a thinner stop ring; wherein when the cup is placed on a flat surface, the disk slides downwards along the hole and the water stopper is released so that the water stopper will apply force against the hole to block exit.
However, the conventional tea steeping device suffers from disadvantages. For example, its components are complicated. Also, it is not durable. Moreover, its manufacturing cost is relatively high. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.